Migrate custom settings of AutoCAD using profiles

Drafters generally have their own set of custom AutoCAD settings like default project file paths, template locations, linetypes, hatch patterns and printer defaults.

When you change your workstation these settings need to be manually configured again in the software. But if you save these settings in your own custom profile then the settings can be transferred directly to a new workstation.

Creating your own Profile:

To save the settings you need a user profile in the AutoCAD. To create a user profile type OP on the command line and press enter. The options window will pop up, in this window select profiles tab as shown in the image below.

Here you will see Unnamed Profile in the list of available profiles which is the default profile, other profiles may also be present depending upon your previous settings.

In this example, I will create our own profile with name Custom profile. Click Add to List button from the right panel of Profiles tab, enter a name and click Apply & close button.

Now in order to make this profile current select it from profile list and click set current button. You will notice that name of this profile will appear on the top left of options window as shown in the image below.

The Custom profile is now ready for saving your custom settings, this profile will save your settings to your local drive. These settings are saved with ARG file extension and you can open this file using notepad.

Migrating profile to other PC:

You can export profile as ARG file from your workstation and import it in another PC to apply all your custom settings automatically.

To export this Custom profile type OP on the command line press enter and select profiles tab from options window. Now click on Custom profile from the list of profiles and click on the Export button as shown in the image below.

Specify a location where you want to save your profile then give it a name. For the current example I have named it as Custom Profile, click on save button. You will notice that an ARG file will be created at the specified location.

To use this profile in other workstations copy it there and click import on profiles tab of the options window then locate the file and click open. The Custom profile will be added to the list of available profiles. Set this profile as current and all custom settings will be replaced by the settings stored in Custom profile.

Do you have questions related to this tip? Let me know in the comments below.